On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday I get out for long, brisk walks before work and lift weights each afternoon after work. Though I still have the blahs, I try to fight through it with exercise and by looking forward to a four day weekend.
On Wednesday I am coming home to lift weights after work. As I make the turn onto my street I have to wait for a lady to cross the street in the crosswalk. And there I see Person A_M walking towards me. So we have a two minute conversation yelling back and forth - me yelling because I have my motorcycle helmet on and Person A_M yelling because...um...I have my motorcycle helmet on. (And ear plugs, by the way.) We have a brief conversation about the trip to Palm Springs. I invite Person A_M to go clubbing with me and my entourage on Saturday, but it looks like Person A_M is busy. I get home, lift weights, prime the garage window with primer, and relax for the evening. One more day of work to go before a four day weekend and a weekend that is going to change my life. I can just tell!
On Wednesday night I check my lottery numbers and I have matched the mega number and three regular numbers. This means that I have won about $50 or $60. I can just tell that this is the beginning of a weekend that is going to change my life!
On Thursday I cash in the $53 winning lottery ticket and get 15 tickets for Saturday. The rest will be used elsewhere. After work I start in on the "once per hour" strengthening and stretching routine for the abdominals and lower back and go outside to trim bushes. I manage to get two of the three bushes trimmed before I quit. And, of course, Person A_M drives by and waves as I'm trimming bushes. Later, after a quick dinner of bread and cheese and diet Coke, I paint the outside of the garage window. And continue with the "once per hour" until I've done 4 sets of the strengthening/stretching exercises. And I relax for the remainder of the evening as I push towards a four day weekend.
Friday is a productive day starting with the (almost) 30 mile loop bicycle ride. Then I move on to trimming the last bush, mowing/edging the lawn, and cleaning things up a bit. Later I do the laundry and get some grocery shopping done before I take a break and relax a bit. Person C_T comes over late in the evening and we watch "Lost in Translation" and relax.
On Saturday I sleep in until 8 pm. I watch qualifying for the European Grand Prix before Person C_T go shopping for floor and wall tile, stop in at the Japanese market in Torrance, pick up a sprinkler head at the hardware store, and have Thai food at a new restaurant near my house. Near 2pm I get out for a bicycle ride and, since I've been feeling blahsy lately, I decide to do intervals. The intervals down towards the aquarium are difficult because there is a strong ocean breeze against me. And the intervals on the way home are very fast and very productive. When I get home I've taken minutes off my best ever aquarium ride time, but I'm hungover bad. When I finally make it to the bathroom to take a shower I feel that there could possibly be some blood present because the pain in the kidneys is certainly there (from processing all of the lactic acid buildup during the intervals), but it isn't visible today. As Person C_T prepares dinner for Person L_M and Person E_A (who are headed over), I watch the taped coverage of the Sestriere mountain stage of the Giro d'Italia. As I've been telling people recently, just the mention of the word "Sestriere" brings shivers up my spine for the steepness of the climb. The stage is fantastic as the leader's pink jersey changes (virtually) hands as the course goes up and down and up again. I am excited! Person L_M and Person E_M come over and we eat all of the food that Person C_T has prepared. And head out the door to pick up Person J_VKPI for a fun night of clubbing.
We arrive at the club a bit after 10:30 pm to a moderate crowd. Though the music is inconsistent tonight, the crowd grows to the point of us needing to push and shove our way (politely) through the crowd to move around. Present tonight are Person P_P, Person D_V, and a few other acquaintances. A couple people get "excessivley friendly" with me, but I am able to push them away as we have a fun evening. At 3:15 am on Sunday morning Person C_T and I are going in the house as Person L_M and Person E_M are leaving for home.
On Sunday I'm up near 7 am to go walking, but the newspaper, watch the European Grand Prix, and read the newspaper. As the Indianapolis 500 plays in the background I work on filtering out Scientific American articlas and a minor bathroom faucet repair. Later Person C_T and I get out for a 40 minute walk before stopping in at a hardware store for another part to repair the bathroom faucet. Person C_T leaves near 7 pm and I relax the rest of the day - continuing to filter out articles that I no longer need.
On Sunday night I finally get around to checking the lottery tickets from last Wednesday's win. I start counting off the numbers and have four matches (though no mega number). This is a win of $103.
On Monday morning I get out for the (almost) 30 mile loop ride before reading the newspaper and doing little things around the house. Near 1pm I get out for about an hour of inline skating. There are a fair number of people out skating, cycling, running, walking, and playing volleyball. As well as people laying out. It's a good skate to get back into the summer rythym. As I'm heading home Scott calls and I stop over at Mom and Dad's to pick up the laptop computer that I had lent Scott for the robotics competition. When Mom and Dad hear about my recent lucky streak with the lottery, they give me $2 to go buy tickets at the same place that I'll be redeeming the $103 winner at.
The Monday afternoon and evening winds down with me relaxing and trimming/watering the roses. It's an intropsective evening. It takes a good Paul Van Dyk trance mix to keep me from wanting to go into the kitchen and use one of the knives that Person C_T picked out for me.